Muhammed Fathi Abulkasem, 19, from Manchester was visiting Alexandria when he was detained.
Photograph: Family Handout

A 19-year-old Briton has been freed in Egypt after he was accused of spying when he took a photo of a military helicopter, according to his family.

Muhammed Fathi Abulkasem was reportedly detained at Alexandria airport in late November, after accidentally photographing the aircraft when he took a picture out of the plane window as his flight landed. His family said he was charged with “collecting information of a military facility” after the authorities discovered the photo.

Abulkasem and his family declined to say what caused Egyptian authorities to release him. Abulkasem uploaded an audio message to YouTube on 8 December, thanking his family and supporters and describing his “detention in an Egyptian hellhole”.

“I’m not ready to talk right now, but I feel I owe you due to your support, to inform you I’m out,” he said.

“I was ready to give up mentally and physically, but that’s for another time. Unfortunately at the moment I can’t tell you what went on … but in due time, I will be back,” he said, without further explanation.

The 19-year-old A-level student from Manchester had been living in Tripoli, Libya, to care for an elderly relative while studying remotely for his exams. He and a friend went to visit Egypt for a week, as his family previously resided in the port city of Alexandria.

His cousin Shareen Nawaz told the Guardian that the Alexandria hotel where the pair had arranged to stay had flagged Abulkasem’s booking as suspicious, and that Egyptian authorities were waiting for him on arrival, where they searched his belongings.

According to Nawaz, after Abulkasem handed over his phone for inspection, officials discovered images with an Egyptian military helicopter in the background, which they found suspicious.

Nawaz said in a Facebook post that Abulkasem was “cleared of all of the ridiculous charges” and that he was now “back at home safe with his family where he belongs”.

“Enjoy your holidays but please check local country rules before travelling and be careful what pictures you take. I know I definitely won’t be travelling to Egypt ever again,” she wrote.

A Foreign Office spokesperson tsaid: “The Foreign Office provided consular assistance to a British national following his arrest in Egypt. He has since been released.”

The British academic Matthew Hedges was recently freed by authorities in the United Arab Emirates and allowed to return to the UK after he was given a life sentence for espionage. The PhD student told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme how he was subject to psychological torture while in detention, and interrogators pressured him into confessing that he was a spy.